Georgian Opposition Bails
July 26, 2008
It became known yesterday that Mikhail Kareli, former governor of Shida Kartli Region in Georgia and close advisor to former Georgian defense minister Irakly Okruashvili, has asked for political asylum in France. Nothing had been known of the fate of the politician, who is accused in Georgia of abuse of office, extortion and corruption, since last November, when he was released from custody on $140,000 bail and immediately disappeared.
The press was informed of Kareli’s whereabouts by opposition For a United Georgia party member Teona Tlashadze. The party was founded by Okruashvili and Tlashadze. Other sources say that Kareli applied for asylum on July 23. Okruashvili also lives in Paris as a political immigrant.
Kareli, like Okruashvili, began his career as a loyal supporter of Saakashvili. He aided Saakashvili in the Revolution of the Roses in 2003 and was awarded with the appointment to the governorship of Shida Kartli, bordering on South Ossetia, a year later, succeeding Okruashvili. After Okruashvili was dismissed and a number of his supporters were arrested in Gori in September of last year, Kareli told thousands at a protest meeting that “the law enforcement organs are fulfilling political orders.” He was dismissed from his post a few days later and arrested on September 23 (a few days before Okruashvili) in the Tbilisi airport as he prepared to board a flight to Europe.
Georgian authorities say they do not know how the former governor left the country. Since there was an international warrant for his arrest, he should have been arrested when he crossed any European border. Okruashvili’s resettlement in France followed the same course. Okruashvili’s lawyer, Eka Beselia, stated that Georgian authorities did not knowingly allow Kareli to flee to avoid imprisoning him. According to Beselia, he will be tried in absentia. The Georgian Foreign Ministry stated that it will demand Kareli’s extradition.
Source: Kommersant, July 2008
www.kommersant.com/p915647/r_527/Georgian_opposition/
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